1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new type of thermostat for use in a building. More specifically, the invention relates to a thermostat consisting of two interconnected units, a wall-mounted unit and a remote unit which may be removably attached to either the wall-mounted unit or by use of a separate base portion attached to the back of a furnishing such as a picture or a piece of furniture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most thermostats in use in today's buildings consist of a single wall-mounted unit. Generally, these wall-mounted thermostats are placed in the middle of a wall at approximately eye level for the building's occupants. These wall-mounted thermostats normally extend outward into the room, anywhere from one to two and one-half inches beyond the wall surface.
Placement of the thermostat is normally dictated by its function rather than its appearance. Thus, often the location of a thermostat is aesthetically undesirable. Users must have access to the controls located on the thermostat in order to control the building temperature. However, since most wall-mounted thermostats extend outward from the walls on which they are mounted and are placed in the middle of the walls, the location of the thermostats can hamper placement of furnishings within the rooms.
The present invention addresses these problems by providing a thermostat with a flush mounting wall unit connected via cable to a thin profile remote unit which can be removably attached to either the wall unit or to the back of furnishings such as pictures or furniture. The remote unit contains the controls which need to be accessed by the user and which can be reached by pulling on the remote unit, causing a movable portion of the remote unit to move from behind the furnishing along a track provided on a base portion of the remote unit. When the user no longer needs to access the controls, the movable portion of the remote unit can again be pushed along its track so that both the base portion and the movable portion of the remote unit reside behind and are concealed by the furnishing. The movable portion of the remote unit is provided with a liquid crystal display which displays the ambient indoor air temperature and also contains controls for turning the heating or cooling systems on or off, turning the fan on or to automatic operation and regulating the building's indoor air temperature.